Technosyncrocity

Final Post

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:04:00 +0000

It has been 7 months since I last updated this blog. Part of that was because I bought a domain name and tried my hand at blogging on a more "professional" platform. However, that died soon after it began.

The reason, as I see it, is because I tried to write about a topic which I really wasn't passionate enough about.

Many people write very well about productivity, efficiency, and generally improving your life. While I can offer a few insightful comments, my strength as a writer lies in a different area.

These days, I write a fair amount for the tabletop gaming hobby. I'm also active in the World of Warcraft community, and have been working on a few things related to that game. I even blog occasionally, though I now do so through my personal website, manatrance.com.

In the end, I'm more suited to blogging about gaming than I am about productivity. So while a lot of the posts in Technosyncrocity are interesting and worth reading, this will be the last post on this blog.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

What do I do?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:02:00 +0000

Today's post is inspired by a challenge from IttyBiz. The author, Naomi Dunford, reflected on how many readers aren't aware - through no fault of their own - of what we blog writers actually do for a living. So, the challenge was to answer five questions to introduce ourselves (again) to our readers:

What’s your game? What do you do?

By day, I'm a web developer working for a major government contractor. By night, I'm a freelance web designer, artist, and writer.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

I love web design. It's the perfect melding of programming, art, and writing.

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

Most of my clients are game companies. I've done artwork or websites for a fair few people as individual commissions too. Usually, the people interested in my services are those looking for a friendly face and an understanding of the game industry that just isn't there for the majority of web design companies.

What’s your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

I don't know what a USP is, but I'll say this - I'm the guy who knows what I'm doing, and I know what my clients are doing too. At the end of the day, I'm a gamer as well as a designer!

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?

Right now, Mana Trance Creative - the name I do business as a freelancer under - is pretty low on my list of priorities. I take a new client once every three months or so, much reduced from when I was just out of college (and unemployed). However, over the next year I'll be slowly building up MTC. My goal is to be self-employed at roughly the same standard of living I have now by December of 2009.

So, if any of you reading this needs a website (or art) or knows someone who does, shoot me an email (manatrance@gmail.com)!

What the client wants isn't always what they need.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:27:00 +0000

Guest Post by Monica O'Brien of Twenty Set
--

I've recently noticed a trend in software development that is along the lines of "If we build it they will come." This is a problem in any type of product development, but it seems to happen more often in software development because there are fewer entry barriers to start a technology-based company.

The problem with "building things" is there are no limits to technology in terms of virtual products. If you can dream it, you can find a way to make it virtual. Which means there are a lot of people trying to make money off of products or enhancements that are missing one thing: a customer need.

What technology companies need most when developing a new product or enhancing an existing product is marketing research. Unfortunately, research is thought to be costly to be hired out, so many companies do an ad hoc version of marketing research which comes down to implementation managers asking customers what they want and reporting back to the company.

This methodology is inherently flawed, however. The first rule of marketing research is you don't ask your customers what they want.

'If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse."' ~ Henry Ford

Customers are good at identifying solutions, not needs. In this example the user needs to get to places faster and comes up with a solution based on previous experience.

But where's the innovation in something a customer has already experienced? Most customers don't understand technology the way a software developer would, and the solutions a customer presents cannot be new or different because they are solutions someone else has already created. A company that uses solutions to determine what to build next will become an aggregator rather than an innovator; and while aggregators can be useful, they are certainly not original, cutting-edge, or exciting.

Aggregation leads to other problems, namely complicated or unnecessary functionality. Which is why most software becomes too expensive, too slow, or too buggy.

Some advice for companies developing software - if you want to be an industry leader, learn how to extracts needs vs. solutions. There is an entire science built around how to do this, and in my experience people without formal training in marketing research are absolutely horrible at understanding the voice of their customer. So maybe hire someone instead - the cost incurred will return tenfold in profits.

Earth Day 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:10:00 +0000

Photo by Franz Priestley

Today is Earth Day.

To celebrate, today I'm going to post a short list of some great links in the spirit of the holiday that are relevant to the Millennial. My favorite is the solar-powered iPod, but check them all out!

Reegle - A renewable energy search engine that tries to bill itself as Web 2.0. Technologically speaking, it's not particularly advanced - no social media, the web design itself is a little off in places, and it appears to be trying to model itself after Google but doesn't come close. However, as a resource for renewable energy information and news related to that topic, it does a good job. There IS a blog, too, and though it clearly needs an editor, the content is in the right place and well-informed.

EcoWorld - This site has a wealth of content. Don't let the ugly design put you off - everything is fairly well organized, and there's a few fun things in there, like this biofuel land calculator. I'm no scientist though, so take this - as with all things - with a grain of salt.

Solar-powered iPod charger - With this and an iPod Touch or iPhone, you can take your mobile computing into the bush and not worry about powering the thing. Also, because it's solar power, it's greener than the alternative.

GreenTechnoLog - One of the better green tech blogs I've found. Multiple good articles with great information!

Dumb Little Man has an excellent post on reducing your carbon footprint. I can't recommend this blog enough, and it turns out he had a perfect post for this topic!

GreatGreenGadgets has a blog post about...well, a whole lot of green gadgets, tricks, and websites. Lots. Check it out!

Moving to Mobile: How to work from any computer

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:48:00 +0000

Lately, working on multiple computers has started to take its toll on my time and productivity. I regularly use my work computer, my laptop, and my home computer, and occasionally use university computers and conference room computers. That's five different machines on a fairly frequent basis. It's hard to keep track of everything - especially if I need a file that's on machine X, or a password that's in the Firefox password manager on machine Y.

So, to fix that, I'm going full mobile. I'm moving everything that can be securely moved (i.e., nothing proprietary from work) into the cloud. Here's a few of the things I'm doing to accomplish this:

KeePass - I'm moving all my passwords and login names into the freely-available KeePass password manager. It's portable and very secure, as well as able to generate some really nice passwords for you - and all you need to know is one password to unlock the database. No more having to remember dozens of different passwords and logins.
Google Docs - Documents that I don't use often I'm archiving to DVD. Everything else, which isn't much, I'm moving into Google Docs - both for ease of access and for the unique collaborative quality of document editing in the cloud.
Google Reader - Though I love the Flock browser's social media functions, I'm moving to just using Google Reader for all my feeds. That way I can keep up without having to worry about logging on the right machine, and feeds that aren't allowed at work - like the Wizards of the Coast feed - I just keep in a separate, closed folder that doesn't trip the firewall.
Google Notebook - No need to keep track of all my favorites/bookmarks separately. Notebook does this for me. It even integrates with Firefox with a nifty toolbar.
Portable Apps - For those times when I really need a specific application, I'll just load up Portable Apps on my flash drive. GAIM, OpenOffice, 7zip, Notepad++, it's all there and all portable.

The only applications which I can't transport easily are Photoshop and Star Wars Galaxies, but seeing as Adobe just released a web-based version of Photoshop that's freely available, the former's not going to be a problem. And I really don't need to be playing Galaxies at work, so that's not an issue either, heh.

I'm taking my first steps toward being fully mobile. If you have any suggestions for additional ways to do this, let us know in the comments!

Choice in the workplace? What will they think of next!

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:17:00 +0000

It seems that lately more companies are veering towards non-uniformity in system design. Employees are allowed to use any computer they want, as long as certain key criteria (e.g., ability to get onto the company intranet) are met. Google has taken this approach, and I imagine it'd be a good thing for Gen Y to universally follow Google's lead.

With the creep towards distributed computing once again, we could even have "mobile dumb terminals" without too much effort or complication.

So, with all that in mind, let's hear what you think about this. Should companies allow their employees to use whatever computer they want?

Do you REALLY need that?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Photo by Bill Silvermintz

In the digital age, we are bombarded from all directions with social links, RSS feeds, Twitters, and all manner of other social media gizmos. We are constantly plugged into the world of Look What Just Came Out That You Need Now messages from friends and colleagues. Oddly, we never stop to think whether we really need that new gadget.

Lately, I've been feeling pressure to buy an iPod Touch. A thousand little voices tell me I need it, I can afford it, what will it hurt to just buy the lowest-storage model....but they rarely, if ever, touch on the most important topic: do I need it?

As a web worker and an erstwhile member of the "coworking coffee crowd," I experience near-continual exposure to the Benefits and Advantages of Switching to Mac. I own a first-gen iPod Nano that I almost never use, and that's about the extent of my Apple-ness. So, one voice is telling me to get the Touch because, hey, it's an upgrade over my ancient Nano. Another voice, from the people in the coffee shop, is telling me - sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly - that Apple is what all the Cool Kids have.

I try and rationalize it. The iPod Touch can store contacts. It can access the Web via wifi for free. It lets me view the weather forecast wherever I find a hotspot. It plays music - and doesn't need to be connected to my computer to get new songs. It plays video, and if the rumors are true, Quake III Arena. All things that, as a web worker, I Need.

...but do I really? Will my life be any more complete after buying a Touch? I tend to think not. After all, most purchases we make in our lifetimes should satisfy a genuine need. Entertainment, personal growth, and other less tangible concepts can easily be obtained through non-material means. Hiking every month, for example, is a lot cheaper than buying a new video game every month...and a lot better for you, too.

So the next time you're tempted to buy that new gadget that just came out, think long and hard about WHY you need it. The decision may make you a better person.

If you have a story about a time when you passed up (or bought!) a gadget you didn't really need, go ahead and share it!

Fear and Aggression....the dark side, are they?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Photo by Takis Kolokotronis

Recently I read a blog post railing against the lack of willingness to stand up for others in modern society. Too often, this observation proves widespread. I myself experienced something similar a long time ago, and regret not acting to this day.

Most of this, I speculate, comes from a culture of individualism....and a lack of confrontation. We are sorely lacking in aggressive quality these days. This is not to say we should have more anger and violence; rather, we need to improve everyone's quality of life by introducing a little bit of healthy fear into the mix.

For example, I avoid cobras when possible, as they tend to strike fatally when provoked. This is not a crippling fear, but rather a fear that guides my behavior for my (and the cobra's) safety. Not all fear is bad, no matter what our illustrious long-lost President said.

We must be willing to step in and do what's right, and aggression is necessary for that. Pacifism only works when everyone is pacifist. This isn't just walking around the streets defending little girls from thugs, either - standing up for someone's idea in the office when the office bull-head is beating it down for no good reason is JUST as relevant.

So next time you find yourself in a position to save someone, do it. Don't think about it. Just do it.

Wake up with the sun and regain control of your life.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:13:00 +0000

Most people in college and just out of it are night owls. I even know one or two who regularly sleep until noon. This behavior is reinforced by a student culture that emphasizes socializing at night as the highest priority.

As a wise man once said, that's no way to go through life, son.

I wake up every morning at 6:00 AM on the dot. Sometimes I use my alarm clock. Sometimes I don't. Either way, during winter I'm up before the sun and during summer I wake with the sun. As a result, my days are more productive, more active, and healthier. Ben Franklin had it right when he wrote "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

More Productive. Since I wake up earlier, when fewer people are active, there are fewer distractions. I take a few minutes to just relax and collect my thoughts. Sometimes I'll make a rough plan for the day, though usually I just identify a few key goals I want to accomplish.
More Active. Waking up earlier, for whatever reason, gives me more energy than sleeping late. The difference between sleeping from 12:30-8 and 10:30-6, though both give my optimal 7.5 hours, is remarkable. By waking up before everything starts happening, I'm able to set a plan of attack instead of having to react to all the late-morning stimuli exploding around me. As a result, I don't tire as easily later in the day.
Healthier. There are two main health benefits to waking up earlier. First and most obvious is lower stress. I lead a life that is almost completely free from long-lasting distress (as opposed to eustress, or good stress). I'm positive that waking up early helps with that, since as I stated before, I don't have to react to anything right away. I can just chill for a good hour or so. The second health benefit is a greater duration of exposure to sun - one of the few places you can get vitamin D. Vitamin D is your friend. Vitamin D is important. Get more vitamin D. Wake up early!

Here are a few links which go into greater depth on this topic, and which offer some tips as to how to get up earlier painlessly:

Zen Habits - Ten Benefits of Waking Up Early and How to Do It

Wikihow - Wake Up Without an Alarm Clock

How to Wake Up Early (dot com)

This blog is ending.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:31:00 +0000

Officially, I will never write another word. Ever. After this one. Seriously.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Once in a while...

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:26:00 +0000

Today, I'm going to do something a little different. I had a post about chivalry and conscience nearly complete, but instead I think I'll present something a little lighter....a recipe, and its origins.

Called "Watergate Salad," it's not really a salad in the traditional sense. Since I'm not feeling too well, my girlfriend made up a batch for me. It's not healthy in any sense, but it does indulge my sweet tooth!

Here's the recipe:

Watergate Salad

1 can (15.5-20 oz) crushed pineapple
1/2 bag mini-marshmallows
1/2 tub light Cool Whip (or similar)
1 package instant pistachio pudding (I prefer Jello brand)

Just mix all ingredients together and serve! Must be refrigerated and covered for storage.

Watergate salad is a variation on "ambrosia salad," a dessert dish that appears to have originated sometime during the 19th century in southern America. Some sources place its starting point at somewhere around 1830, although given the wildly divergent recipes floating around both then and now, it's likely that it never had any single inventor or point of origin.

Another blogger who has posted this recipe, Dorcas Walker, has some more information and, in her comments, some variations you can try.

This recipe is great for parties. The next time you drop by SXSW, bring a carload of it and you'll be an instant celebrity!

Forget the rules, tell a story.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:08:00 +0000

Writing has taken on new meaning as I've gotten a little older and a little wiser.

Grammar and spelling, in particular, are not the twin unbreakable pillars they once appeared to be when I was in high school or earlier. Reading Tolkien, and considering his status within the literary world, is evidence of that; though his grammar completely defies the Laws of English Class in several ways (particularly in the Silmarillion), he is held up to be one of the greatest writers of fiction.

Originally, I believed there was only one way to write - the Correct Way, in which the form of the language matched the textbooks perfectly. Now, though, I have come to believe that not only are there multiple ways to write, but different forms of writing must be used in different contexts. The Correct Way is appropriate only in certain situations.

One of those situations is in business letters, resumés, and other formal career-related communication. The purpose of the language used is to impart a sense of your competence and professionalism. For us twenty-somethings, this is the area that is most often lacking. In college, a scant two years ago, I proofread some classmates' papers in upper division courses and was appalled by the errors in what should have been fundamental form. Run ons, fragments, and similar literary atrocities abounded. This is no way to demonstrate our competence in the workplace, particularly for those of us who work as freelancers outside the relatively safe cubicle world. Our communication style is vital.

Now, while that professional Correct Way is appropriate and even necessary in the corporate world, it is often inappropriate for the world of fiction and narrative writing. As per Tolkien's example, there is a different kind of focus for narrative form - the telling of the story. Flowery language makes it more difficult to read, certainly, but using unusual words and sentence structures forces our brains to creatively interpret. Once we engage that half of our brain, suddenly these worlds that the authors are weaving for us take on a life of their own.

This kind of writing is also necessary for our development as individuals, though many people don't allow it to flourish...or even practice it. Flowery writing makes us think and produces new pathways in our still-growing brain patterns, something ever so vital for a twenty-something newly recovering from the culture of university.

Storytelling is an important skill, and being able to forget the Correct Way for awhile and forge new trails helps us become more rounded people.

So, the next time you find yourself free for fifteen minutes with nothing in mind to do, grab a sheet of paper or a word processor and tell a story. Forget the grammar...show us your world.

Connect and Prosper.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:22:00 +0000

Something missing in a lot of big companies - whether office, factory, or what-have-you - is a sense of community and connectedness. There is frequently no connection between You and the Team. In the case of freelancers, it's between You and the Client.

What do I mean by connection? I mean empathy. I mean that feeling you get when you really understand someone, and they understand you. There's way too much focus on Lone Wolf, out-for-number-one tactics out there.

I recently read Connection Culture by Michael Lee Stallard and found myself nodding at every third paragraph. Michael's research is impeccable and his findings are both simple and profound. He goes into great detail about the hows and whys of connecting at the workplace. His conclusions are that A) connections at work make that company a great place to work for, and B) in the case of customers and clients, that company becomes a great one to do business with. People are happier when they're connected.

Michael doesn't go too much into scale and volume, but he does make notable mention of the fact that big companies that encourage communication and connection do demonstrably better work, backed up by trustworthy data.

According to his research and my own personal experiences, people who make connections are happier, healthier, more optimistic, and generally more energetic than those who do not.

So.

When's the last time you made an effort to make connections in your workplace? Do you know the name of the guy in the cubicle across the way? If not, introduce yourself. Get to know the people you work with, for, and above, and you will find that the rewards greatly outweigh any remotely possible cost to yourself.

3 lists that will save you time and keep you sane

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:14:00 +0000

In today's online culture of GTD, productivity, time management, and so on, we are focused on getting more done in less time. We are told that quantity is generally preferable to quality. What this mindset doesn't take into account is another important aspect of life - happiness. Too often, I find myself thinking that line from Jurassic Park, "[they] were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

Time is valuable, yes. The most valuable currency in the world. Now think to yourself - do you spend all your money? Do you have a plan for every dime you will ever earn?

When you get right down to it, you have a finite amount of time available to you during your lifetime. There is no chance you will receive more, but frequent opportunities to get your supply shortened or even cut off permanently. So, you must spend your time wisely...and that includes leaving some flexible time so you can catch a breather and just relax!

To that end, here's a few lists of things to think about when you plan for the future.

One day every week (Sunday works for me), write down a list of three goals you want to accomplish over the next week. These goals don't have to be work-related; rather, they should be things that you really want to do. For example, my weekly list might read:

Ride 5 miles on my bike (Biking)
Draw 5 new illustrations for my game (Art)
Complete a perfect back-spin kick (Taekwon-do)

Your second priority (never, ever your first) should be to make a list of three goals you need to accomplish over the next week. This list is of things that need to get done, but that you don't necessarily enjoy. For example:

Pay gas bill (Bills)
Shovel sidewalk (Chores)
Turn in P3 report (Work)

Finally, make a list of three goals to meet for the next week that you should accomplish. These can be just about anything. For me, the list might look like this:

Find a good local dietician (Health)
Finish my current novel (Reading)
Spend half an hour learning about leadership (Education)

Keep in mind that all of these things should only make up a PART of your time. The rest can and should be fluid, allowing for sudden shifts in schedule and just plain old relaxation. Personally, I try and incorporate some daily rituals into my life, but that's just what works for me. Experiment to see the best solution for you.

The Art of eating M&Ms

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:00:00 +0000

When you rip open a bag of M&Ms, how do you eat 'em? Pop one at a time, rapid-fire? Pour the contents into your waiting maw? Or do you slide a single one into your mouth, suck on it for awhile, then finally swallow and consider, possibly, having another?

The way you answer that question could have remarkable ramifications for how you approach life in general. Are you the type of person who consumes new experiences at a phenomenal rate? Do you let everything go by in a rush as you focus on something else? Or, perhaps, do you savor each experience one at a time?

Interestingly, conventional wisdom might be right for once. Savoring one experience at a time lets you take in more, and more importantly, understand more. I once met a maharaja who visited my cultural anthropology class in New Zealand. He insisted that it would take many years to learn what he was about to try and teach us in an hour. Being young and inexperienced, after the lesson was over I privately scoffed at the seeming simplicity and easiness of the concepts. How could it possibly take years to learn this?

Now, eight years later, I understand.

Some things, like the meditative world view the maharaja tried to teach us, are intellectually very easy to disassemble...but very difficult to actually ingrain into your being. Learning and understanding are two very different, though interrelated, concepts. In order to fully understand a lot of the seemingly simple productivity and personal growth concepts floating around the Net right now, you must experience them over an extended period of time instead of merely seeing them, analyzing them, and casting them aside.

So the next time you open up a bag of those candy-coated chocolates, try savoring them one at a time. You might be surprised at how much more you enjoy them.

Another Clash of the Generations

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:08:00 +0000

Recently, a student at Ryerson University in Toronto was charged with over a hundred counts of academic misconduct. His crime? Running a chemistry study group on Facebook.

Now, while I'm sure there is more to this story than what the article states, the case seems fairly clear: a professor considers online communities different from offline ones. This is despite the differences being negligible for the purpose it was intended for.

Though I graduated university last May ('07), I still live two blocks from campus. I'm plugged into the college community there, and it's definitely not the pure-offline world that a lot of the older professors seem to think it is. The majority of students at SDSU seem to have a Facebook account at the very least. Even some professors do, though they're almost entirely the younger ones.

This is not the first clash between old and new ways of thinking about human interaction, and I guarantee it won't be the last. However, we as young adults need to work with the older generations to demonstrate three things:

Technology is not a replacement for traditional forms of communication, it's an enhancement of it.
The Internet is not lawless, despite it being unregulated. There are rules of behavior online just as there are ones offline.
Education is more and more becoming inseparable from the Internet, and things such as online study groups are inevitable evolutions of that paradigm.

Ranting, raving, and threatening is most definitely NOT the way to prove to the older generations that our way of thinking on this issue is correct. Instead, we need to approach this on their level - and with their tools. We are one society, not two separate ones.

Personally, I think Ryerson University's wording of their academic dishonesty policy could use some updating. "Any academic advantage" being made illegal would seem to me to disallow reading textbooks.

The Workplace? Nah, we need the Lifeplace.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:30:00 +0000

Too often I hear people complaining about the workplace or chattering about the differences between the workplace and the home. Many people seem to enjoy making tremendous separations between Work and Play.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

See, life's about three key concepts - Production, Play, and Provision. All three are necessary for all aspects of life, and cutting one out of any part of it makes life less fun, less whole.

Production. The art of giving something back to society. If you want your life to mean something, you produce. Writers write, engineers engineer, and artists....art? If you spend a good deal of your life dedicated to one thing, you will become good at that one thing. People who are happy with their jobs almost always have combined their favorite productive activity into their working life.

Play. The art of doing something just for the hell of it, with no obvious return. While this doesn't directly create New and Better Stuff for society, it improves you and those around you as a person. It's a social activity. While Me Time has its place and is necessary for mental health, playing with others is a vital aspect of a healthy society and can really be refreshing for the mind, body, and soul. From a working standpoint, it encourages teamwork, communication, and energy, all very important concepts for Good Workers.

Provision. The art of keeping oneself and one's dear ones alive and happy. Feeding yourself and your kids (if you have them) is only part of the equation. In your working life, the ideal worker is one who cares about his colleagues, his projects, and yes, even his managers. Japan partially got this right in the Old Days before the bubble economy and after the Occupation, where every employee of a company was a member of a "family" of sorts. Caring employees are happy, more productive, and more fun to be around.

Think about it. In the perfect job, you'd have fun, have a recurring sense of accomplishment, and be a proud member of The Team, right? Everyone else would think the same too. This is much easier to do with startups, ala Silicon Valley, than it is with larger established companies, but it's still possible. Be proactive, and set up the change. You don't have to fight management to make this happen.

Make it all part of your life, who you are, who you will be. Change your workplace into a lifeplace, something that you are happy to include as part of your existence on this Earth. You'll find that everyone is happier, is more productive, and generally better people when it happens.

Get an awesome new hobby to improve and enrich your life!

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:18:00 +0000

Balancing a frugal life with a fun life can be difficult. Many hobbies and forms of entertainment cost money, and some are more expensive than others. Some hobbies - like yachting - are prohibitively expensive for the average joe. Others, like hiking, are practically free in the right circumstances. Choosing fun hobbies that don't hit up the wallet too hard can be a great way to reduce living expenses while still letting you lead the life you want.

Choosing a new hobby is a simple process, though some of the details can require a lot of thought. Follow the next few steps to gain a new, cheaper, more exciting handle on life!

Consider the cost. Cheaper is better, but there are multiple angles to think about. Entry cost is only one part of the equation. There are also incidental costs (like, say, the cost of buying more paintballs), maintenance costs (repairing your hiking boots), and upgrade costs (like getting more involved in the hobby's community). Cost is not necessarily monetary, remember! It can involve significant time and social commitments.
Think about your overarching interests. Are you a nature lover? An athlete? Do you like making things? How about challenging yourself? Thinking about these things will get your mind working on the possibilities.
Favor physical activities over sedentary ones. Being physically active is much better for you. Mental growth is important too, but if you're used to sitting at home, opt for the physical new hobby over the mental one.
Make a list. Considering the first three steps, do some research on fun activities that might match your interests. Don't just rely on Google, either; check out the local library and review your options in your home town. Some cities have extensive bike trails, while others might have public tennis courts. See what's available.
Narrow the list. Pick two options from it, and try out both. Go with the one that seems more fun to you after a month or so.
Enjoy your new hobby! Spend a lot of time with it. Hobbies can stagnate and become boring if you don't engage them often, so try and dedicate specific blocks of time to it every week.

Don't worry about retiring old, expensive hobbies. Just devote a decent chunk of time to your new hobby, and if you enjoy it, you'll find that your other hobbies won't seem as important and will fade in time...along with those expensive side costs that accompanied them!

Web workers don't need Stuff.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:32:00 +0000

As is frequently the case, a dozen article ideas struck me as I was checking my daily blogs today. One article I read seemed particularly noteworthy - the Tyranny of Stuff on Get Rich Slowly. After reading it, I thought about how much Stuff is appropriate for various kinds of people. Then I thought, how much Stuff do I, a web worker, REALLY need?

The technogeek in me cried out "lots of it! Gadgets define me!" The philosophe in me grumbled "I need nothing. Sell! Trash! Throw out!" Then the rational side started to churn.

I've always gone through short periods of BUY BUY BUY followed by long stretches of GET RID OF EVERYTHING I OWN. It's a vicious cycle. More than that, though, it's telling of how I view Stuff.

Something that few people seem to think about is the exact level of Stuff they need to be happy and productive. Most are content with continually buying more and better Stuff. A rare few find happiness in owning next to nothing. We really need to think about not just what makes us happy, but what makes us happy for the lowest personal cost. That isn't just cost in terms of money, either. Every single interaction we make has a cost of some kind, and this is particularly true of acquiring Stuff.

Stuff has multiple costs - the monetary price, the space it takes up, and the time its usage takes away from other things. There are also a bunch of other indirect costs, such as what others think of us for acquiring this Stuff, opportunities lost because of it, and so on. Rarely do we ever consider all of these; most of the time, we are purely focused on the monetary cost.

I blame that mostly on our materialistic culture, but the cause isn't important. Only the solution is. So, let's look at exactly what a web worker in general needs to own in terms of Stuff.

Obviously, a computer is a necessity. While it's possible to use only public machines in Net cafés and the like, it's not cost-effective by any reckoning. So, that's one item of Stuff that's necessary.

Coffee, Mountain Dew, energy drinks - all consumables that really have no lasting positive effect on us. Bad Stuff there.

Housing is vital. Renting versus owning is outside the scope of this article. Utilities, obviously, are also vital. Groceries too....though we really don't need to buy that extra yummy snack just because it's on sale.

The latest gadget off of ThinkGeek is not vital. In my case especially, we're only likely to use it for a few days or a couple weeks at most before it becomes just another part of the scenery. So, too, with the latest computer games. That's not to say that computer games are bad Stuff, though - just reduce the frequency at which you buy them. One or two a year is plenty. One or two every couple years is better.

Cars are very sturdy things. Buying brand new ones is just silly, so if you really must buy a new car, get a used one that's at least three or four years old. If you're going for a hybrid, though, that's a different matter. Do NOT buy a used hybrid right now....the new battery cost will eat you alive. Get a new one if you must have a hybrid or other alternative energy vehicle.

Similarly, how many blogs/websites do you REALLY need to read every day? Though they don't have any monetary cost, they DO have associative costs like time and opportunity. Knowledge may be power, but knowledge at the cost of living tends to drag you down in the end.

There are hundreds of thousands of other things I could list here, but I'm sure you've already come up with a few of your own. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you believe is necessary Stuff and what isn't.

The Art of Positive Deletion

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:16:00 +0000

A very important concept in programming is what we coders call "garbage collection." Basically, a program is like an old pail of water - if you don't make sure all the holes are filled, that water's gonna go all over the place. It'll get everywhere and make your life miserable. A computer only has so many resources, and holes in a program (e.g. memory leaks) will keep taking up more and more of those resources until there's nothing left.

The concept of garbage collection can be applied to life in general, though. I call it "positive deletion," since what you're doing is eliminating Stuff from your life so the Stuff doesn't clog up the rest of your life. After all, you only have so much Life!

Positive deletion is a combination of time management and spatial organization. You need to get rid of things that take up resources as quickly and completely as possible. Parkinson's Law is only too true, so you need to make sure you're only spending as much time on a project - whether personal or for work - as absolutely necessary. Thomas Edison couldn't have invented 1,093 things in his lifetime if he didn't understand this principle.

Of course, that doesn't mean pushing out an incomplete finished product. Do what needs to be done, but try and do it in half the time you (or your boss) originally assess it at. If you fail to meet this ambitious goal, then I guarantee you will at least have made it in under the original assessment! There are other task/time management techniques you can use (e.g. batching, worst first, etc.), but they're out of the scope of this post.

Another aspect of positive deletion is the outright culling of unnecessary garbage from your life. For example, how much time do you REALLY need to spend in front of the TV every day? Or the computer?

Try out some of the following tips to get rid of the garbage:

Sort out your goals. Make a list of all of your personal and work-related goals. Categorize them by importance - Vital, High Priority, and Low Priority. Assign due dates to each of them, assuming that you will work on only one goal at a time.
Knock out the most difficult task first. Also known as the Eat a Frog principle, doing this will ensure your day can only get better...and you'll gain self-respect for not procrastinating in the process!
Reduce your time-wasters. If you're a chronic TV-watcher, try dropping an hour off the time you spend watching the tube every day for a month. Next month, another hour. Similarly, if you spend way too much time reading email, try the Ferriss method of email batching.
Plan your day. Using Google Calendar, 30 boxes, or another calendar, plan out tomorrow from waking to sleeping. Include half an hour for planning the day after that. Keep doing this for a week. At the end of the week, start planning out the entire week after that, and so on. Most importantly, stick to the plan! While there will inevitably be unforeseen events (such as family emergencies, flat tires, etc.), for the most part the plan'll keep you on track and away from the little time-wasters like neuroticly checking email every ten minutes.
Set limits. Don't just let yourself "work until it's done." Set a specific stopping time, and stop when you reach it.

There are many more possibilities here, but those five will be a good starting point for you. There are a great many other blogs dedicated specifically to productivity (43 folders, Steve Pavlina, Lifehack, etc.) that will expand on the positive deletion principle. For those of you already familiar with productivity optimization, you may be interested to read Dumb Little Man, as it has some interesting and unique tips that go beyond the usual.

In the end, if you can take charge of your life, you'll find that the most valuable currency of all - time - is yours to command. Positive deletion is but one of many tools to help you with that goal. Try it out for a month, and see how it affects your life!

Free software, free world

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:56:00 +0000

The concept of a free world is near and dear to those advocates of FOSS. In recent years free software advocacy has grown in volume if not in momentum. Subscribers to this peculiar philosophy - that all software should be free, open source, and readily available to the public at large - seem to hold certain similarities to other philosophical positions.

Anarchism, for one. Libertarianism for another. But it goes deeper than those mere labels.

All software being freely available as a good and desirable trait of a society implies...nay, requires that believers subscribe to the idea that materialism and ownership are inherently negative concepts. In this they resemble some beliefs of a few Native American tribes. Non-market economies based on concepts of barter and dumb-barter, however, almost always have a concept of ownership behind them even if there is no currency or common value basis for items. In small societies, the materialistic bent of placing value on an item gives way to placing value on the exchange of the item, thereby replacing economic value with social value. In today's anonymous global village, social value is of far less importance, and thus materialism has risen as a natural consequence.

Interestingly, the FOSS advocacy movement seems to be pushing for a return to social value over material value. Linus Torvalds is considered influential and prestigious for his uncompromising dedication, generosity, and competence. Bill Gates, while similarly intelligent, is reviled for his tremendous wealth and reputed anti-FOSS tactics. A developer's prestige in the FOSS community is directly proportional to his or her contributions to the community.

Now, while this is all well and good and I applaud a return to social value over material value, there is one glaring flaw in the FOSS advocacy philosophy - free software doesn't pay the bills. Some companies get around this by offering services to support their free products, but service isn't particularly time-consuming, thus enabling fewer developers to support a single product and restricting the number of jobs available at a given company. This suggests that the entire software industry is either flawed in its concept or flawed in its execution and gives rise to questions regarding the legitimacy and efficiency of the current paradigm.

For FOSS to become a viable methodology, the software industry must shift from a production-centric environment to a service-centric one. This is not to say that development itself must go by the wayside; rather, services need to be placed higher in priority than development so as to foster an equivalent financial return for developers and still promote the free usage of software. Service industries account for 70% of the economic activity in the United States; certainly, by transforming the software industry into such will bring no great harm to the pocketbooks of developers as a whole...but its effects on the individual developer can't be directly determined.

Personally, I hope that the FOSS philosophy and its focus on social value is a sign of a general disillusionment with materialism in general. Certainly, it can't hurt to help others through ideas such as FOSS. To find out more, check out the Free Software Foundation's website. Their Resources section is particularly helpful.

Web standards, browsers, and the future of the Web

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:34:00 +0000

Recently, the CSS working group and the W3C in general have come under fire as Opera launches an assault on Microsoft. A counterculture of pro-proprietary technology advocates has risen up against the web standards movement. The web standards crowd has responded with fire and passion, sending up a rallying cry against what they see as a return to the browser wars of the '90s. All of this begs the question - what are we really trying to do with web standards and the Web in general? James Bennett asks the same question, though more eloquently and with greater background than I present here.

The point of the World Wide Web is to provide people with information. It used to be nothing more spectacular than that. The type of information varied - marketing, scientific studies, news, etc. - but it was all information. With the advent of RIA technologies and new usage of the Web, though, that's starting to change. People are starting to do more than just research and purchase on the Web. The lines between desktop applications and web pages are blurring.

With AIR, Flex, JavaFX, Silverlight, and other possible vehicles for innovative usage of the Web proliferating like mad, we are left with the question - what can't we do with the Web? That question is what drives research and innovation in the Web. It doesn't play as much of a factor, though, in industrial and commercial common usage. For example, when was the last time you overheard any non-developer talking about Web 2.0 or rich internet applications? How many people actually know about and use Google Docs? I'd be willing to wager that not many outside our world do. That will change in the future, of course, as clever and useful new technologies frequently are wont to be adopted.

However, it seems that we - that is, web developers and other Internet professionals - often confuse research with production. The development of other new technologies, such as integrated graphene circuits, is kept largely out of the public eye. While not expressly hidden, there is no attempt made to put such bleeding-edge breakthroughs into immediate public usage.

Web standards and the development of proprietary Web technology is slightly different, but not much. Web standards are supposedly akin to such things as the Railway Group Standards in that they make the Web easier and "safer" to use and develop for. By taking away the difficulties inherent in producing for multiple different platforms, web standards allow developers to spend their time innovating in more specific ways.

The problem is that web standards are not keeping up with technological development, and so developers on the cutting edge are not able to utilize new technologies without resorting to proprietary platforms. Many developers give up on web standards so that they can implement the latest and greatest products of the commercial or open source worlds. I personally would love to see XHTML taken beyond its HTML4.01 roots; the WHATWG tends to agree with me on this. However, with the current leadership of web standards, that simply isn't possible.

We need new standards. The W3C is not keeping up with the pace of development, and therefore should either be revamped or replaced.

T-Mobile must be boycotted.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:40:00 +0000

Normally, I don't post more than once a week. However, after reading about T-Mobile's assault on Net Neutrality on Wired, I had to blog about it.

T-Mobile wants to tell you what websites you can visit. We should tell T-Mobile what it can do with its Terms of Service....and take our money elsewhere.

Why Jorn Barger is wrong and the rest of the world is right.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:54:00 +0000

So, as I was browsing the web for a topic for this week's blog post, I came across an article in Wired that really caught my eye. In it, the inventor of blogging, Jorn Barger, talks about what blogging should have been instead of what it has become. He seems to be of the impression that blogs should be, essentially, reports of interesting links the blogger has seen recently.

Sorry Jorn, but that's what del.icio.us and digg are for now.

Blogs these days frequently come in two flavors - personal diaries and explorations of a particular topic. While links play a major role in most of the latter, they are often completely absent in the former. Blogging has gone beyond its humble origins and developed into something akin to a cross between 18th century coffee houses and digital soap boxes.

Blogging is a powerful social medium. It can be a tremendous platform for conversation on just about any topic. My personal favorites, like productivity, fun, and fitness, have endless possibilities for debate, ideas, and plain craziness. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun, though, without the highly social nature of it all. A conversation isn't a conversation if it's a bunch of links.

Fitness full-time

noreply@blogger.com (Ben O.) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:20:00 +0000

Every day we are inundated with advertisements for Lose Weight Fast diets, exercise regimens, and miracle drugs. Almost all of these products require you to give up a portion of your day to Getting In Shape....or giving up things that you love, like tiramisu.

People two hundred years ago didn't worry about such nonsense. People in other developed nations, like England, France, and New Zealand, don't worry about it either. So why are we obsessed with Diets, Exercise, and Drugs?

It's all because America has shifted from a society of physical activity to one of mental activity. Now, this is not a bad thing in theory...but in practice, it's the root cause of our national obesity epidemic.

So, here's how to get in shape, stay in shape, and actually enjoy it for once. This is targeted primarily towards cubicle zombies, but the philosophy applies to just about everyone.

It's pretty easy. The steps are:

Ramp up the activity
Choose to avoid one luxury food a week
Make food your fuel, not your crutch
Play hard
Work with your body AND your mind

Ramp up the activity.

If you're going to get in shape, you can't just sit in a chair all day, then go home and sit in front of the TV or computer screen. Whenever you can, be physically active. Make sure that if you're spending a day at the office, you move. For example, the recommendation From Above is to get up and move around once every hour. That's not enough, and it can be jarring if you're in the middle of a great idea. Instead, try to be active constantly. Push your chair back and forth. Stretch frequently. Stand up and walk around your office or, if you're conveniently located in a tiny cube, get creative with the objects at your disposal. Tape dispensers make interesting free weights, as do textbooks. The key here is to ramp up the activity. If you do nothing else in this list, do this.

Choose to avoid one luxury food a week.

Anyone who's tried most of the diets out there knows how hard it is to suddenly go without all your favorite foods. So, instead of cutting out everything right away, go gradual. Make a conscious choice to turn down or avoid one luxury food per week. Luxury foods are usually sweets like candy, muffins, and pastries. Foods with high carb counts are good candidates for the chopping block. If you can't just cut something out entirely, try substituting something healthier. Honey makes a good alternative sweetener. My first Chop was to stop buying cappuccinos every morning. Not only did that give me 300 fewer calories a day, it also saved me about $60 a month. The key here is to go gradual. Losing weight fast isn't important. Losing weight permanently is. That said, some people like Tim Ferriss have done some amazing things with minimal-effort, fast weight loss.

Make food your fuel, not your crutch.

A lot of us enjoy food. It's not just necessary to our survival, it's a social activity. For some, it's a coping mechanism. For others, a passion. Whatever your reason for enjoying food, if you're overweight, you enjoy it just a tad too much. Don't worry, though, because you can still enjoy food and lose weight. All you have to do is make food your fuel, not your crutch.

Always eat after being physically active, not before. Eating before you move is like trying to fill a gas tank when it's already full. Some of you might say, "but I'm hungry and tired! I need to eat before I can get active!" First, if you're tired when you get up in the morning, then you definitely need to be more active physically and less active mentally. There has to be a balance there, as with all things. Starting your day with a jog can be inconvenient for some, so try different ways of getting active right away. If you have trouble waking up in the morning, get creative - replace caffeine with dancing. Yes, dancing. You'd be surprised how well dancing wakes you up. Just make sure you warm up those muscles before doing anything too strenuous or you risk injuring yourself, and that doesn't do anyone any good.

If you're tired in the afternoon, take a nap. Unless you're starving - and by this I mean your stomach feels like it's stabbing itself to death with a spoon - try and avoid snacking. If you're really hungry, eat fruit. Fruit has natural sugar that will restore some of that lost energy. But always, always, always remember - food is fuel. Fuel must be used, not stored.

Play hard.

Instead of sitting down in front of the computer all night after a tough day of being on the computer at work, take up a sport. You heard me. Go to your city's Parks & Rec department and sign up for one of their clubs. If you're a little too heavy at the moment to do this without hurting yourself, then take up dancing. Dancing is easier to do at home and will burn just as many calories as sports. "But my guild in WoW will be angry! I can't just abandon them!" If your guild demands your constant presence every night, all night, then you should think long and hard about whether they have your best interests at heart. Do they care about you, or that AoE heal you just happen to have? There's nothing wrong with playing video games, just as long as they don't make up the totality of your nightly entertainment.

On weekends, take up a project that involves working with your body. Something that involves lifting heavy weight - like, say, helping Habitat for Humanity build houses - can really work wonders. Doing something that ends with a finished product and a continual reminder of progress can do great things for your self-esteem and sense of accomplishment. If you're a code monkey who spends the weekends working on personal coding projects, try the same activities in Ramp up the activity for at home. Since you're in your own space, you can go really nuts.

Work with your body AND your mind.

If you're too heavy on the mental side of the physical-mental seesaw, you need to work harder on the physical side to balance out the equation. If it's winter and you live in the suburbs or in a small town, try shoveling your neighbors' sidewalks for them. It can be hard work, but it'll be rewarding in both your neighbors' reactions and in the physical results you get.

Use that brain of yours to come up with new ways to get your body and your mind working in tandem. Martial arts is a great way to do this. Even yoga at home counts, though the social aspect of training with others can be a wonderful bonus.

If you're concentrating hard on developing your body into something you can be proud of, you'll find that your mind will get healthier too. Your concentration, reaction time, creativity, and overall happiness will spike. That ADD you think you have? That's not ADD. It's just a side effect of not being in shape.

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Eat well, play hard, and work hard. Do this all the time, and you'll find yourself improving on a daily basis....without really having to think about it too much, or spending hundreds on a silly fad diet. Go do it.